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13 Ways to Get Your Listings Noticed

Any way you slice it, your listings are your #1 marketing tool. How can you be sure to market your listings effectively and get them noticed?

Follow along as I show you 13 ways to get your listing noticed.

1. Add tons of professional-quality listing photos.

Think there can’t possibly be 36 different ways to shoot a single house? Think again. Lots of listing photos is one of the top reasons why people spend more time looking at listings. Buyers want to know what a house looks like from all angles, with as many photos as possible. So, add as many photos as you possibly can. Also make sure to name your photos with appropriate descriptions rather than just what your camera named them. Which sounds better to you: IMG_0234.jpg or Master Bedroom – Frances Street?

3. Create a detailed description of your listing.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when there is no description included with a listing. If your listing is created without a description, your website automatically generates a bland description based on the price and location you’ve entered for the listing. It ends up reading “House for sale in ‘neighborhood’ for ‘$ price’.” How lame is that?? Anyone that sees this listing will have no idea about it because you’ve failed to describe it. Don’t just give a boring description of your listing, but craft your words carefully and be as descriptive as possible. There’s really no excuse to leave this area blank, especially when you can add up to 2000 characters of your own awesome description.

Fig 2. Now that's a detailed Description - and tons of Features too!

4. Select all the listing’s features.

You can use the checkboxes to describe your listing features such as exterior finish, interior features, appliances, heating, cooling, water/sewer system, views, and much more. Check all that apply, there is no limit. The more information about the features you can share with your potential buyers, the better chance they have at seeing what it is you are offering.

5. Include a price highlight.

This may seem unnecessary or pointless but adding a price highlight can grab the attention of those browsing your site or one of the many syndication sites. If your listing is priced below assessed value, has had a price reduction, or is of great value in the area, you can use the Price Highlight field to state something to that effect. (See Fig 4. d)

6. Say something with a general highlight.

Use the General Highlight field of your listing to say something catchy and attention-grabbing about this listing. It takes three seconds or less to type something in, and maybe just a bit longer to come up with what you’ll say. It’s worth the minimum investment of your time if it means attracting more buyers to view the listing. (See Fig 4. c)

7. Create and customize a Virtual Tour.

Virtual tours give your listing visitors something additional to look at about your listing, presented in a different medium that is enjoyable to watch. In order to create a Virtual Tour through your Point2 Agent account, you’ll need to have at least 5 listing photos added. Hopefully you will have already taken our advice from above and added the maximum amount of listing photos possible. Professional and Premium members can edit the Point2 Virtual Tours with more advanced effects. Standard members’ virtual tours still look great and professional, even with limited customization. You also have the option to link to a third-party virtual tour if you have such a service set up. (see Fig 4. a)

8. Share as much information as you can – in bullet form.

The Highlights area of your listing allows you to add bulleted highlight points to the listing, which will appear just below the description you’ve already crafted per the guidelines above. These highlights can be up to 200 characters each and you can add quite a few. Some suggestions for what to include as highlights:

Is the home newly built? Describe the builder and the community plan.

Elaborate on any special architectural features.

Mention the landscape or outdoor areas.

Are any of the appliances noteworthy? Brand new? Gourmet?

Describe any details about the garage/workshop.

Is there a dog run? Outbuildings? Unique features? Recent upgrades?

9. Give a room-by-room information ‘tour’.

If you haven’t already noticed a recurring theme here, I’ll spell it out for you. People looking at your listings want information. Lots of it. If you give them what they are looking for, they’ll be happy, and you’ll be the hero. When they are satisfied with the information they find with your listings they’ll be more likely to contact you when they are ready to take a look in person. Using the Rooms tab while creating your listing will allow you to provide details about what each room offers such as the location in the house, flooring, dimensions, and an additional description. You can even choose which photos you want to be displayed for that room when it is viewed.

Fig 4. Provide photos, descriptions and details about every room.

10. Attach files that may be of use to your buyers.

In some cases you may want to include additional marketing material or information that is pertinent to a listing. Use the Attach Files option available to Professional and Premium members to do this. I’ve seen people use this area to include information about HOA or strata guidelines, marketing information about the planned community development the listing is part of, floor plans, and more.

11. Your listing in a pretty little package.

Please create a professional quality listing brochure and attach it to your listing (see Fig 4. b). Point2 listing brochures are a million times nicer than a print out from most MLS’s. I’m not just saying this to promote Point2’s listing brochures, but as a potential home buyer myself, I find it incredibly annoying to find tiny black and white images on a single sheet printout from the MLS. I know it’s not just me who thinks this way either. A listing brochure can be edited to include specific pages or the entire wealth of listing information you’ve already added by following the tips above. Professional and Premium members can edit the listing brochure details even further.

12. Send buyers to your listing.

Provide targeted traffic directly to your listings with an easy-to-advertise single property website. You can register a specific domain name and point it to your listing, or create a third-level domain alias. You can use this website address on your sign riders, within any print ads, or in any place where you will advertise your listing.

13. Send your listing on a trip – everywhere.

Advertise your listings in as many places as possible on the web. Sure, you could do it manually, entering your listings at over 30 different online marketplace websites. Or, you could just use the listing syndication service provided through Point2’s Exposure Engine. Using syndication from Point2 gets your listing on over 35 highly-trafficked consumer search sites, ending up on over 300 destinations.

Fig 5. Your Listing - Everywhere!

14. Here’s a bonus tip for you all, just for listening so well.

When you’ve sold your listing, thanks to putting the wonderful tips listed above to good use, please remember to update your listing. This way your listing is marked as sold, it will be then updated to all the syndication sites, and visitors who are on your site won’t be frustrated when they find out that the listing they fell in love with was sold three weeks ago.

So, there you have it. A list of the ways to put the many listing features available through Point2 Agent to good use. If you don’t already have a Point2 Agent account, you can set one up here with a free 3-month trial, and start getting your listings noticed too!

Megan Lust is Content Developer at Point2 Technologies, Inc. Based out of Canada, Point2 develops marketing software for the heavy equipment and real estate industries, including Point2 Agent - the standard in affordable web marketing for real estate.